Friday, August 31, 2018

Environment groups blast gov’t on mining ‘turnaround’

Environment groups on Friday blasted the plan of the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to issue more mineral
reservations in the country as a “reversal” of Duterte government’s
supposed anti-mining policy.

In separate statements, the Center for Energy, Environment
and Development and the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment
scored the DENR for its failure to live up to its mandate of
safeguarding country’s natural resources.

“If this (proposal) pushed through and gets affirmed by the
President, this will then be a clear signal of the blatant reversal of
anti-mining pronouncements of the President during his Presidential
campaign and his past (State of the Nation Addresses),” said CEED Gerry
Arances, executive director.

The DENR, in a news release on Thursday, announced it was
set to declare more mineral reservation areas throughout the country “to
help provide equitable access to mineral resources and generate
additional nontax revenues for the government.”

The announcement came on the heels of the 2017 Commission on Audit
report, which questioned the Mines and Geosciences Bureau’s failure to
collect some P2.7 billion in royalties from existing mining operations.

The government’s economic managers also blamed the lackluster
performance in the mining and quarrying industry for the “slow” growth
of the economy, dropping to 6 percent in the second quarter.

Lawyer Analiza Rebuelta Teh, DENR undersecretary for mining concerns,
said the declaration of mineral reservations shall allow government to
collect royalties—something it cannot do with the present mining
operations.

But the DENR must approach its newest tack with caution, Arances
said, as the government’s control and management of declared mineral
reservations remain “plagued by various issues”.

“It has been clear in many studies that no amount of increase in
share and royalties from mining can outweigh the devastating impacts to
watersheds, forest cover, climate resiliency and many others,” he said.

For Kalikasan PNE, the planned expansion of mineral reservation areas
is “unsurprising”, as the Duterte administration has been known for
“successive reversals” amid the President’s “tough-talk” on mining
policies.

Leon Dulce, Kalikasan national coordinator, cited the impending
reversal of the closure and suspension orders for 24 of the 28 mines
sanctioned by former Environment Sec. Regiina Paz Lopez, and the recent
lifting the two-year mining exploration ban.

He dismissed the newest DENR move as one for fiscal equity, but a
“clear attempt to further wholesale” mineralized lands in the country.

Opening up more lands to mineral reservations is part of the “more
business as usual” scenario which the Duterte government is pursuing, he
said.

“The fact that this peacocking to foreign mining investors when
outstanding problems in environmental and social regulations remain
unaddressed runs contrary to the promise of cracking down on destructive
mines,” Dulce said. /kga

“We first came up with the idea of showcasing how blockchain
technology can clean up the environment, using Boracay as an example.
However, the government shut the island down in April, so we looked
at (Pasig) instead as the next most important body of water in the
country,” Villafuerte said.

He said his company plans to install internet of things (IoT) devices
in the river to monitor water quality or tide levels and other
relevant data to track and monitor their progress in real time.

This will enable them to generate and analyze the data produced,
which will serve to create the impact they are looking for toward
solving the plastic and garbage problem that silts the river.

Villafuerte said CypherOdin would be using drones to map the plastic using lidar detection system on a microscopic level.

“We will collect all the data we gather from these IoT and process
them so we will have comprehensive information on where the plastics and
garbage are coming from, how they are moving, among others. This would
allow us to analyze and come up with recommendations on how to best to
clean up the river,” he added.

Villafuerte said they also plan to launch a massive information
drive, particularly with communities along the riverbanks and near the
river, about the importance of proper garbage disposal and environment
protection.

The communities, he said, would be given incentives with BOTcoin
cryptocurrency for a certain amount of garbage they collect from the
river and for not throwing plastics into it.

“This would encourage the community also to respect the river because they will be earning something from it,” he said. – Rey Galupo

Saturday, August 4, 2018

DENR widens clean water scope

Two river systems in Metro Manila and one in Calabarzon
(Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) were declared by the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as water quality
management areas (WQMA) recently.

Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy A. Cimatu signed
three separate administrative orders designating the
Malabon-Tullahan-Tinajeros and the Las Piñas-Parañaque river systems in
the National Capital Region and the Iyam-Dumacaa river system in Region
4A (Calabarzon) as WQMA.

These new WQMA bring to 37 the total number of water bodies nationwide under stringent policies for protection from pollution.

The administrative orders aim to protect and improve the water
quality of the three river systems—which are important sources of
livelihood to local residents—pursuant to Republic Act 9275 or the
Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004.

“Their designation as WQMA will ensure clean water in these rivers
for present and future generations. Water is vital to irrigation,
livelihood and water supply,” Cimatu said.

According to Cimatu, designating WQMA will enable concerned officials
both in the national and local levels to take focused interventions on
specific water quality issues relevant to a particular locality.

“The WQMA is a significant tool in enforcing the Clean Water Act. It
aims for the improvement of water quality to meet the guidelines under
which they have been classified or to improve their classification so
that it meets its potential use,” Cimatu said.

Under the RA 9275, the DENR in coordination with the National Water
Resources Board is mandated to designate certain areas as WQMA using
appropriate physiographic units such as watershed, river basins, or
water resources regions to effectively enforce its provisions and
improve the water quality of water bodies.

The law seeks to provide a decentralized management system for water quality protection and the improvement of rivers.

Likewise, the DENR is tasked to create a governing board for each
WQMA, which is chaired by a regional director of the DENR’s
Environmental Management Bureau (EMB). Its members include the mayor and
governor of the concerned local government unit and representatives of
relevant national government agencies, duly registered non-government
organizations and business and water utility sectors.

Under the WQMA, the DENR and stakeholders address the water quality
problems, sources of pollution and the beneficial use of the receiving
water body. They also determine what control measures to institute to
effectively achieve water quality objectives or improvements.